Jul 2006

I used to be in a band with a singer (Mike) who I thought was pretty crazy onstage. He would clamber on top of equipment, spray Diet Coke and candle wax over anything (and anyone) in range, climb off the stage and sing in people’s faces, that sort of thing. He ended most sets by taking a flying leap into the drum kit and knocking stuff over. (There were never any encores.)

But I gotta say, Monotonix’s lead singer put Mike completely to shame. He gyrated all over the floor of the Abbey Lounge and got plenty physical with the audience (I kept waiting for one of the women to slap him, but it never happened.) Mostly he was so over-the-top that it was just silly, but every now and then it took a serious turn — on one tune the guitarist mimed beheading the singer with harsh bursts of noise, and that was creepy.

Funny or scary, the bottom line is that they were consistently entertaining. I don’t think everyone dug the set (although a lot of people did), but I don’t think anyone was bored.

The great thing for the The Hyphens was that when Monotonix were finished, the crowd wasn’t projecting a mood of “ho-hum, another band to sit through,” the crowd was projecting a mood of “Yeah! More entertainment!” And nobody seemed to mind that we were more straightforward and less confrontational.